China's richest provinces have an outsized environmental impact on the country's water-scarce regions, according to new research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the University of Maryland.

Many developed regions in China are not only drawing from their own water resources but also contributing to water depletion in other water-scarce regions of the country through imports of food and other water-intensive goods, according to the new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. This has environmental impacts and potential future impacts on water availability for the entire country.

The new study used the concept of "virtual water," an economic concept used to track water flows through trade, to track how water is traded through agricultural products and other goods that require water to produce. But while previous studies of water flows had treated all water equally, the new study accounts for water scarcity.

"When goods and services are exchanged, so is virtual water," explains IIASA and University of Maryland researcher Laixiang Sun, a study co-author. "For example, it takes about 1,600 cubic meters of actual water to produce one metric ton of wheat. When a country or region imports a ton of wheat instead of producing it domestically, it saves most of that."

In China, water resources are distributed unevenly, with ample water in the wealthier southern region, and scarce water in most northern provinces. The study shows that trade between these water-scarce regions tends to draw more sharply on water resources in the less developed, poorer regions. For example, the provinces of Shanghai, Shandong, Beijing, and Tianjin import large amounts of virtual water at the expense of less-developed provinces such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei.

"Importing water-intensive goods from one water-scarce region to another doesn't solve the problem of water scarcity—it just shifts the pressure to other regions," says co-author Klaus Hubacek, a researcher at the University of Maryland and an alumnus of the IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program.

The study also examined the impact of international exports on water resources, showing that production of international exports in China's top exporting regions also draws on water resources in water-scarce northern provinces.

Sun adds, "With the fast growth of China's economy, and increasing urbanization, this trend is likely to continue in the next few decades."

Recognizing the problem of water scarcity, China has launched a multi-billion dollar water transfer project to divert water from the South to the North. But the authors suggest that replacing imports from the North with goods produced in the South could be a more efficient solution to the problem.

The researchers say that their new study lays the groundwork for smarter water resource management. Says Sun, "This is the first study that incorporates water consumption, water scarcity, and ecosystem impacts into an analysis that conveys the pressures on water resources. Using virtual water as a policy tool only makes sense if you take water scarcity into account."

Related Stories

China's rapid socioeconomic growth continues to tax national water resources – especially in the agricultural sector – due to increasing demands for food. And, because of the country's climate and geography, ...

International trade of food crops led to freshwater savings worth 2.4 billion US-Dollars in 2005 and had a major impact on local water stress. This is shown in a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

The past few years have seen powerful droughts across the U.S., with water shortages threatening crop production, shipping traffic, energy production, and groundwater stores. Water scarcity issues are particularly relevant ...

Water resources can become strained by both natural factors such as drought and by human factors such as unsustainable use. Water resource managers can develop practices to reduce overuse of water resources, but they cannot ...

With greater water scarcity in some regions and increasing global demand for high quality water, international trade agreements need to help save water globally. This was the main conclusion of a special report, published ...

The shale gas boom has transformed the energy landscape in the U.S., but in some drier locations, it could cause conflict among the energy industry, residents and agricultural interests over already-scarce water resources, ...

Every summer, tens of thousands of people across Australia revel in live outdoor music, staying for a day or pitching their tents for a weekend. When the music dies, however, what's left may be less appealing ...

Extensive worldwide changes in the timing of leaf activity over the past few decades—which may have significant ecological and atmospheric consequences—have been revealed by a University of Otago, New ...

A new study says a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely stoked by ongoing manmade climate change, and that the drought may have helped propel the 2011 Syrian uprising. Researchers say ...

Intensified land-use, sewage discharge, and climate change have likely favored disproportionate development of harmful algae in freshwaters. A new study found that blooms of one type of harmful algae, called cyanobacteria, ...

User comments : 0

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.

Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript.
In order to enable it, please see these instructions.